World Tibet Network News Monday, April 27, 1998

The Tibetan Youth Congress is deeply anguished by the disruption of our first batch of unto-death hunger strike by the Government of India. This morning, at 6, the police forcibly took away our remaining three hunger strikers on the 49th day of their fast. Not only this, the police acted most brutally, dumping the weak strikers on ambulances and kicking men and women who attempted to prevent the strikers from being removed. In an insidious move, the police ripped the back of our tent and pulled out Palzom, woman striker, together with her bed, from behind the tent.

Thupten Ngodup, a 60-year-old veteran of Bangladesh liberation war, burned himself at Jantar Mantar this morning. Although nearby Tibetans managed to extinguish the fire, he is in a critical condition right now. Ngodup's action demonstrates the general sense of frustration among the Tibetans at the lack of tangible support for the Tibetan cause, the inaction of the United Nations and the intransigence of the Chinese government to resolve the Tibetan problem. If the issue of Tibet remains unresolved for a longer time, there will be many such acts of desperation.

Our present strike was essentially a peaceful and democratic means of protest, the method which Mahatma Gandhi taught the world. We were not causing inconvenience to any one in our host country. Therefore, we fail to understand why India, the largest democracy, acted in such an undemocratic manner this morning. What is more, the strike was not directed against India. It was directed against the United Nations for its inaction in resolving the problem of Tibet.

We were only asking the United Nations to act on the recommendations made by the International Commission of Jurists. We were asking the United Nations to resume debate on Tibet, to appoint a Special Envoy to promote a peaceful settlement of the question of Tibet and a UN-supervised plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the Tibetan people.

The United Nations has not yet fulfilled our demands. And this morning we realized that we Tibetans have no political allies. Therefore, we will continue this movement till our demands are met. The following Tibetans will participate in the second round of unto-death fast:

1) Venerable Jampa Kalsang, age 23, male

2) Tsering Dorjee, age 37, male

3) Kalden Norbu, age 47, male

4) Tsering Gonkyab, age 55, male

5) Thupten Ngodup, age 60, male

6) Phuntsok Semsang, age 25, male

The Tibetan Youth Congress will not end our present movement until we receive a positive response to fulfill our demands.

Tseten Norbu

President

TYC

DT: 27 April 1998